Since her departure from the strong-willed Hermione Granger, Emma Watson has emerged as an inspiring young woman who’s only now beginning to feel fully comfortable in her own skin. Proving that she is even more determined and inspirational than her on-screen wizard.
Speaking openly to Porter Magazine for their Winter Escape Issue, Watson revealed why she’s only now – at the age of 25 – begun to develop a strong sense of self. But to be honest, that is what one’s twenties are about – self discovery. I also strongly feel no one is ever really finished discovering themselves.
“[I’ve] spent more than half of my life pretending to be someone else. While my contemporaries were dying their hair and figuring out who they were, I was figuring out who Hermione was and how best to portray her. Now at 25 for the first time in my life I feel like I have a sense of self that I’m comfortable with. I actually do have things that I want to say and I want to be my most authentic self”.
Just how determined and authentic she is was revealed during the interview when she disclosed some shocking news. The shocking revelation concerned her now famous HeForShe campaign speech. Apparently, the UN Women Goodwill Ambassador advised her not use the word “feminism“.
“I was encouraged not to use the word ‘feminism’ because people felt that it was alienating and separating and the whole idea of the speech was to include as many people as possible. But I thought long and hard and ultimately felt that it was just the right thing to do. If women are terrified to use the word, how on earth are men supposed to start using it?”
I’m glad Watson stuck to her guns and fought back. The speech wouldn’t have had the same impact and by using the word, Watson proved that it shouldn’t be regarded as a dirty word by anyone. It’s a hard word for many people to digest, I know, but really it’s just another word for equality – like Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai noted in her interview with Watson for the Into Film Festival.
#Peace.Love.EmmaWatson
